Lotus Elise - The Inside Story

[cb11acd]

How have I not already seen this?

The entire documentary on YouTube takes an inside look into the development of the Elise.

Now having worked for an OEM I was amazed at the similarities between inside lotus and inside a modern OEM. The same conversations happen, especially where it shows you inside the body design meetings with engineers and designers fighting for what they think is right.

If you ever wondered what working for a car company is like. This is it.



Also, the lead designer in the film, Julian Thompson is now the director of design for Jaguar taking over from Ian Callum.

Perfect lockdown watching, enjoy!

[ChasR]

I'll have to look at this, given that I work in the industry. Let's just say I can see why some parts have 'car brand tax' on them, especially with low volume stuff, and why things like dipsticks are being ditched.

Which OEM did you work for? You can PM me if you wish.

[cb11acd]

Jaguar land rover for 3.5 years both for research and special vehicle operations. I did various project engineering and engineering working closely with designers and commodity leaders.

I have also spent some time at Nissan although for a different kind of role.

[ChasR]

Dec 20, 2020 15:23:28 GMT cb11acd said:

Jaguar land rover for 3.5 years both for research and special vehicle operations. I did various project engineering and engineering working closely with designers and commodity leaders.

I have also spent some time at Nissan although for a different kind of role.

Ha! It sounds like I will enjoy this video!

I've read the SD1 story on AROnline and so much of that rings true!

You can guess where I work and which folks I deal with .

How different was Nissan compared to Tata owned outfit?

[cb11acd]

It was like a parallel universe.

Even down to people having foam core name tags above their monitors in the open plan office. Main difference though was getting things approved and keeping Japan in the loop. At JLR you just had to get emails or meetings at Gaydon, at Nissan you needed frequent contact with Japan which was difficult due to time and language barriers. Also working geographically near the HQ means if you need prototype parts, or test things or vehicles it was easy to get hold of and mostly internal. Nissan in the UK is a satalite office and very far from HQ.

Instead of ordering samosas (JLR) for someone's birthday it was sausage rolls (Nissan). There was a Starbucks and Costa at JLR but only a Costa at Nissan.

On the whole though, it was the same. Food was much better at Nissan though

[ChasR]

Interesting to hear! I thought with Nissan, things might have been more different!

I'm involved with the Logistics side of things at a company. Prior to that, it was product development.

Some of the things however seem like madness at times. However you soon see why things have costs etc. attached to them.